written by Juan Aguirregabiria
edited by Wolfgang Christian

The Ejs Lagrange Top model displays the motion of a heavy symmetric top under the effect of gravity.  The top has an initial angular speed that provides the precessional, nutational, and rotational speeds.  The ratio of L_z to L_x can be set via slider and the initial angular position and angular speeds can be changed via textboxes.  You can modify this simulation if you have Ejs installed by right-clicking within the plot and selecting "Open Ejs Model" from the pop-up menu item.  

Ejs Lagrange Top model was created using the Easy Java Simulations (Ejs) modeling tool.  It is distributed as a ready-to-run (compiled) Java archive.  Double clicking the ejs_ehu_rigid_bodies_Lagrange.jar file will run the program if Java is installed.  Ejs is a part of the Open Source Physics Project and is designed to make it easier to access, modify, and generate computer models.  Additional Ejs models for rigid body dynamics are available.  They can be found by searching ComPADRE for Open Source Physics, OSP, or Ejs.

• Download ejs_rigid_bodies_Lagrange.jar - 1143kb Java Archive File

Published August 18, 2008
Last Modified June 17, 2013

This file has previous versions.

The source code zip archive contains an XML representation of the Ejs Lagrange Top Model.  Unzip this archive in your Ejs workspace to compile and run this model using Ejs.

• Download ejs_ehu_rigid_bodies_Lagrange.zip - 18kb Compressed File

Published September 29, 2008
Last Modified September 6, 2011

This file has previous versions.